How to Cook Fluffy Quinoa

Light and fluffy quinoa is no longer a mystery! This simple trick will help you reach the elusive perfect quinoa - every time.

Bowl of perfectly cooked quinoa garnished with mint

A very short, but important post today. How to cook fluffy quinoa. In fact, how to cook fluffy any grain, really. But first, let's take a moment to marvel at the perfection in the photograph. No clumps, no soggy mess, just perfectly fluffed grains of delicious, nutty quinoa. Foodie nerds I'm sure you will share my excitement at this.

Ok, straight into it. To reach quinoa perfection, the trick is to do away with any measurements. Sounds odd, but you will read time and again that a cup of dry quinoa should be matched with 2 cups of water, or thereabouts, bringing to a boil and reducing to a simmer, fluffing with a fork and serving. I find this to be incredibly hit and miss, and inevitably end up with browned quinoa stuck all over the bottom of the pot (or worse, blackened, if I get distracted while cooking).

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Try this instead:

Take whatever quantity of quinoa your heart desires, and rinse thoroughly under running water to remove the bitter saponins on the outer seed.
Place quinoa in a large pot, cover with lots of water (at the very least 3-4 inches above the quinoa - the more the better!). I like to use organic vegetable stock for a richer flavour.
Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
Leave the lid on or off, it really doesn't matter. Check in on it from time to time, until you see the white spirals have separated from the grain.
Remove from heat and pour into a sieve, draining the water off.
Voila! Quinoa fluff perfection! No measuring, no forks, no sticking to the bottom of the pot!

You're welcome.

🙂 Lauren.